The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to ask governments of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures to ask their residents to refrain from making nonessential visits to Tokyo, where infections with the new coronavirus are rapidly increasing. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike will soon call the governors of the three neighboring prefectures to ask for their cooperation.
According to a metropolitan government estimate, about 1.07 million people from Kanagawa Prefecture, about 940,000 from Saitama Prefecture and about 720,000 from Chiba Prefecture enter the capital daily to commute to work or school. A total of 2.82 million people enter Tokyo every day from six prefectures, including those three, in the Kanto region.
In Tokyo, 41 people were found to be infected with the virus on Wednesday, the highest daily figure so far announced by any municipal government in the nation. More than 70 new cases were reported in just three days through Wednesday, a fact that prompted Koike to hold an emergency press conference on the day to urge Tokyo residents to refrain from going out on the coming weekend, among other measures.
As the effectiveness of measures to stem the epidemic will diminish unless the inflow of people from outside Tokyo is stopped, the metropolitan government will ask neighboring prefectures to take similar measures, including promotion of telecommuting.
There have also been moves in neighboring prefectures. The Kanagawa prefectural government has also asked prefectural residents to refrain from going out nonessentially on the weekend. The Saitama prefectural government is considering similar measures. The Chiba prefectural government has also started studying countermeasures.
The metropolitan government plans to ask the central government to consider declaring a state of emergency under the revised special measures law to counter new strains of influenza, on the grounds that the possibility for an explosive spread of infections is growing. During her Wednesday press conference, Koike stressed that the capital is at "a critical point for preventing explosive growth in the number of infections," while also showing a negative view on the current possibility of lockdown, in which the entire city is blockaded. If a state of emergency is declared, the governors of the designated prefectures will be able to request or order the suspension of the use of large-scale movie theaters and sports facilities, among other steps.
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